As you may already know, I am the Editor/Publisher of a monthly newspaper named GreeneSpeak, owned by my husband Bob and I in Waynesburg, Greene County, Pa. I often write on patriotic topics, especially in May, June, July, and November and thought Cindy's Wind readers might appreciate this editorial from the June 2013 edition in the column we call "The WET HEN."
In the rural area my newspaper serves, it is not unusual to see elected officials work hard to put a lid on Free Speech and Free Press, especially in regard to a pithy publication like GreeneSpeak. Most of the municipalities I cover have rarely if ever been written about in any newspaper before, and let's just say I'm not usually too welcome.
But having experienced the ridicule and disdain of some of these folks has continually reminded me of the debt I owe our military people and their families, both past and present, for helping to preserve our liberties and promote our ideals elsewhere in the world. Thus follows my piece on why the American flag still deserves care and respect.
On our June cover, we featured a photo of the Waynesburg American Legion's Flag Day ceremony in which a uniformed, white-gloved veteran properly retires a worn flag by burning it as spelled out in the U.S. Flag Code. It's surprising how many people do not realize that this type of ceremony is held annually or why.
And, we admit, even at this patriotic time of year, that some portions of the U. S. Flag Code may be a little overzealous, such as prohibiting people from wearing flag images on clothing and forbidding it to be used for “advertising” purposes.
The world is a different place from when the code was drafted shortly after WWI in 1923 by the National Americanism Commission of the American Legion, a group of 68 organizations, each of which surely had their own agendas for restricting the use and display of the flag that belongs to all of us.
Not surprisingly, the code became law in 1942 in the midst of the atrocities of World War II. And so it remained for a generation. But the times, they do change, and in 1989 the Supreme Court ruled that burning it in protest was Free Speech, and eliminating any penalty for violating the Flag Code. How you treat our flag now is a matter of etiquette, which, in this case, really does matter to millions.
Notwithstanding variations in interpreting the code, YOU know whether or not you are intentionally disrespecting it, which in our view includes burning it in protest, or even by allowing it to fly tattered and torn or using a real flag in silly ways, such as a beach towel or tablecloth, for example. You may not have a legal reason for respecting the flag, but there certainly is a moral impetus for it.
Common Sense often runs amok in the Land of the Free, so GreeneSpeak takes this opportunity at this time of the year, as this point in American history, to ask conscientious citizens, if you would never so much as pick your nose in public for fear of offending someone, then why would you heartlessly desecrate our nation’s symbol that means so much to so many?
Whether or not you believe in the Bible, a wise guideline in Corinthians says if you do something that is not necessarily “wrong,” but which drags a weaker brother or sister down, then you should really avoid doing it, especially in their presence. Not bad advice, for such an old book. GreeneSpeak holds that this principle should also be applied to our flag. Here’s why we believe FLAG ETIQUETTE STILL MATTERS:
Because of the Fort McHenry flag that “was still there.”
Because of the flag forced into the rubble by five Marines at Iwo Jima. And at Ground Zero.
And those small patches on the uniforms of U.S. soldiers, signifying hope and liberty to the world.
And because of the ones rippling in the breeze at cemeteries large and small, identifying even the oldest veterans’ graves where the names have been obliterated by time–flags lovingly placed there by octogenarian veterans as well as young Boy Scouts who remembered.
But especially because of the most melancholy flags of all, the ones covering those returning home who died in service to our country–the same flags, carefully folded, ceremoniously presented, and desperately embraced by mothers and surviving loved ones as a final symbol of their sacrifice.
This editorial is dedicated to the memory of Covert Morris, uncle of the Editor/Publisher Cindy Bailey. "Covie" died at Normandy on D Day, June 6, 1944, and his mother, the publisher’s grandmother, lived another four decades holding that flag to her heart. Fortunately, she did not live to see the 1989 Supreme Court decision on flag burning. See Covert’s story at www.memorymedallion.com.
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